I’ve been away from the blog for a bit. We’ve been going through what many of you have gone through before or may be going through now. My mother-in-law had a “mishap” and we have spent time and mental energy away from work trying to get her through the rehab process. (This is not our first rodeo, either.) We recently made the decision to move her to our town in order to better stay on top of things.

In going through all the rigamarole associated with choosing the right managed care facility- read nursing home – a number of things have jumped out at me that we already knew, and that have some strong relevance to running your marketing. Here’s what you need to know.

• You can do it all yourself, or you can recruit some helpful team members.
  • In managed care, patients need to have an advocate for best results, and it doesn’t hurt to have a group of you available for this important role. Many hands make light work for visits, errands, and filling in when necessary.
  • In social media you can do it all yourself, or you can hire someone to help you setup your Facebook page, create some custom graphics and apps, and even monitor your various social networks. You can use a social media manager to help maintain your presence and use their experience to grow it into something you couldn’t do by yourself.
• The closer you are to the situation, the better the results are going to be.
  • To restate the obvious, having your loved one in a managed care facility in the same city will ensure that you are on top of everything going on. That doesn’t mean it’s going to go smoothly and everyone will do their part well. It just means that you have a better chance to put your eyes on everything going on and stop problems when they happen instead of finding out about them days or weeks later.
  • When it comes to your social media, you need to be managing it on a daily basis, too. What if someone is asking a question or posting a comment and you aren’t there to answer? Don’t you need to be responsive to them? The only thing worse than no social media presence is a bad social media presence. This is not set it and forget it. If you aren’t going to be on top of things every day, outsource some of this to someone who does this for a living. They can let you know when and how to communicate and build the relationships with people in your networks.
• There are a lot of bad solutions.
  • This should not come as a shock to you, but there are a lot of nursing homes  managed care facilities that aren’t up to snuff. Do your homework. Make the very best of a bad situation. There are a lot of great facilities, too, so talk to people, do some site visits, and find one that keeps you and your loved one happy.
  • There are a lot of social media posers out there. They go by a lot of titles, and they claim a lot of things. Do your homework here, too. See how they manage their own social media and the results they are getting for their clients. Visit their sites, talk to people, and get a great social media manager.

It is my wish that you don’t have to deal with managed care for your loved ones. But if you decide to hire a social media manager to improve your social media presence, find someone that can create a strategy and solution that’s perfect for you.